True and certainly one of the mantras of a food blogger…
It’s a thrill to meet some fellow food bloggers, for I feel like I’ve “met” them or gotten to know them through their sites, but the final piece to the puzzle is of course putting a face to the name or the words. So when Christie from Fig & Cherry put a call out to us to join her at East Ocean for Yum Cha, I was only too happy to come along. Who else did I get to meet? Well Suze from ChocolateSuze; Howard and Quinling from EatShowandTell; Helen from Grab Your Fork; Jen from Jenius; Belle and William from Ooh, Look; Kathryn from Limes & Lycopene; Lisa from Spicy Icecream and Reem from Tummy Rumble. A rowdy,food lovin’ photo taking bunch if I ever I imagined one indeed. Thankfully we were seated in a corner where our copious photo taking was less obvious than if we were dining in the centre of the restaurant.
The conversation ranged from all topics food to more topics food. Here is the huge selection of food that we enjoyed. At first, it’s a full on Dumpling assault, with a take no prisoners attitude. Dumplings of all shapes and flavours are piled on our table.
Out come the cameras much to the amusement of the staff and dishes are photographed from every angle.
My absolute favourite dumpling, the prawn filled Har Gow is delicious, full of large prawns and a slight ginger flavour.
Combination dumplings
Siu Mai
My other favourites are the garlic chive dumplings. Having once tried to make the delicate translucent skin on these and failing miserably, I can appreciate how hard they are to make.
The Chicken’s feet, something that people either love or hate is tried for the first time by Reem and Lisa. I adore these but don’t order them much as my husband and friends refuse to eat them so I am stuck eating the whole thing,. Not ordinarily a hardship but then there is less room for dumplings-you do understand…
I love the prawn rice noodles but find them too fiddly to break up so I leave these behind today .
Pork rice noodles
Chinese greens with oyster sauce
Tofu skin wrapped spring rolls are ordered for Kathryn as she is a vegetarian.
We spot some Xiao Long Bao (soup dumplings) so we order 3 lots of these so that everyone can have some. They’re not bad at all, the skin not breaking on these and they’re flavoursome.
The Braised tofu is soft and pillowy and topped with fish paste has a similar sauce to the Chicken’s Feet.
Pie Gwat (pork ribs)
By the time the Ham Sui Gok comes around I am getting very, very full so I leave these although from all reports, they’re well received. I recall reading that these are a favourite of Helen’s.
Christie’s favourite dish was the rice noodle rolls with a combindation of Hoi Sin sauce and peanutty sesame sauce, served Yin Yang style. The crispy outside of the rice noodles was great with the soft inner and sweet sauce. It’s the first time I’ve tried this dish.
We have to take a break before dessert is consumed, after all what is a meal without a sweet ending? After fortifying ourselves with Chinese tea, we plunge into the weird and wonderful world of Yum Cha desserts.
I couldn’t resist taking a photo of this huge scooped out Watermelon which houses a fruit salad in syrup. After all the photo taking the trolley lady is surprised that we don’t actually want to order any fruit salad. But like a child, I am more interested in the packaging than what is inside. To the right is the huge container of sweet sago
Sago soup with melon balls with some hand modelling from Reem, thankyou 
Mango pancakes are one of those things that I’ve never tried. I put it down to the fact that I stuff myself with dumplings and by the time dessert rolls around I’m no longer interested save for a custard tart. These vividly coloured spongey crepes are filled with mango and whipped cream and are cooly refreshing.
Egg custard tarts are one of those things that I grew up loathing and then one day I woke up and just loved them. I think it coincided with the first time I tried making pastry and I’ve never attempted to make a pastry and layered and buttery as Chinese egg custard tarts. I love the look of the uber glossy custard, as shiny and vividly yellow as a fresh egg yolk.
One of my husband’s favourite is the Mango Pudding, alas he couldn’t make it today. I keep promising him that this summer, I’ll make him a big pot of this as soon as Mangoes are in season.
The Thousand Layer cake was Suze’s mission to try again after a separation of 10 years. It was good, the white topping not cream but the same as the slightly sweet doughy outside of a steamed BBQ pork bun, the layers were a thick eggy custard that I thought might have some lotus in it and there was a hint of the salted egg yolk that you get in Chinese New Year cakes.
These honey topped buttery buns were filled with a thick eggy, lotusey custard. I wanted an oozey custard so I cut it open but was momentarily disappointed. Until I ate some of course, it was rather good. We do a fairly good job of finishing the food, there’s one a few morsels left on the Lazy Susan and all with a tiny bill of $20 per person. No wonder Yum Cha has taken over the world.
Photo from Suze
And of course no expedition is complete without a group photo-this one is of course taken from the back (we’re a shy lot). Our waiter, who I think had a previous career doing wedding photography directs us to move and pose although he stops short of telling us to “pout” or “work it baby”. Although having a look at the photos his direction did result in some great group shots.
As we leave I notice this little boy and girl having Yum Cha seemingly by themselves. I’m sure some parents were involved as the number of settings indicate that but it seemed sweet that this could be a young Yum Cha date.
East Ocean
421 – 429 Sussex Street Haymarket NSW 2000
Tel: +61 (02) 9212 4198
Open 7 days
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29 Comments | Add your own
did i tell u one of my new pet hates is xiao long bao?
i’m not sure why, but i keep feeling this pressure to eat it with vinegar and eat the soup in one mouthful and u know how much i hate hot food. it’s bad.
i remember when yum cha was unpolluted by such non-cantonese dishes!
oooh, I love the little people! Was so great to meet you! Really look forward to more foodie adventures!
Wow, such a fantastic photo tour! I wish I’d seen those two little ones on their date…
Was so lovely to meet you – see you very soon for our next adventure
Must of been quite a sight with all you foodies pulling out your cameras!
I love yum cha. I spy some of my favourites – pie gwat, ham siu gok, prawn and pork noodles mmm. Chicken feet is probably my favourite. Some people still get a bit grossed out by them though…
garlic and chives…chicken feet…mango pancakes…other general yum cha needs…*sigh* starting the regret going to friend’s birthday instead of the yum cha meet ><
Hey there! It was lovely to finally put a face to this blog. I’ve been reading your yummy posts for a while
Great photos by the way!
It was wonderful to finally meet you! Your photos are great, though I don’t even remember seeing the tofu dish haha. Hope to see you soon!
Yummy! That’s all I got.
Great to meet you Lorraine. Gosh those chive dumplings look glorious!
A meeting of the minds ey NQN? Conspiring to find the next big thing? Only good things can come from this!
Great pictures. I love the great selection of desserts. I enjoy the rice noodles at yumcha too but not without some gai lan!
Hi blythe-Why don’t you just leave it to cool? Polluted? I think that’s rather harsh!
Hi Reemski-I know, they’re so cute aren’t they? Thanks! It was lovely to meet you in the flesh too and look forward to more
Hi Christie-Thanks so much for organising it, it was a lot of fun
See you soon for more food adventures I hope!
Hi Jessie-I know, people must have been wondering what was going on
You’ve named some of my favourites too but the delicate Har Gow wins my heart. So many people won’t try Chicken’s feet-they’re missing out!
Hi D-What a pity we didn’t get to meet! Maybe some other time?
Hi Jen-Yes it was great to actually meet you and who knew that we were in the same industry?!
Thanks, I really liked your pics! 
Hi Lisa-I’m glad we got to meet and I feel privileged I was there at your first chicken’s foot!
Yes hope to see you again soon!
Hi KatyBelle-I concur wholeheartedly!
Hi kathryn-Lovely to meet you too! I’m glad that you were able to get some good vegetarian fare that day too
Hi Maria-Just a lot of eating and food talk about Nigella Lawson and other food related topics I’m afraid
I usually am too full for dessert so I was really glad to be able to try these
Lovely meeting you Lorraine. I must say I loved the Nigella re-inactments!
Also I agree about the waiter being a wedding photographer in his past career! he had all the poses going on it was hilarious.
Oh, I have the same problem with Chicken Feet! I love them, but can’t finish a whole serving by myself, luckily for me my partner tolerates them, and will pick at a piece or two. Actually I was talking about this with my family, and it seems we love chicken feet but have the terrible luck to choose partners who despise them.
Your lunch looked like fun!
once again, the desserts have caught my eye and tickled my fancy. it’s a miracle i don’t weight 600 pounds.
heh great to see ya again dude! the waiter was awesome lol
Looks like you all had a feast!! I’ve never had many of the desserts at yum cha, I’m usually too full by then. Perhaps I will have to leave some room next time – these desserts look great!
Your photos are so delicious and life-like, I felt like diving right in (again). Hope we can meet up again at the Zumbo cafe.
How absolutely disappointing I missed it! I’m a Sydney based food blogger, but very new to the game. In fact, I just launched my blog into the world just over a few weeks ago! I would love to come along next time… In the meantime, I’ll be sure to be keeping a tab of what you are all up to!
You guys ordered everything on “my list of foods I only eat at yum cha!”. Har gow, that vege pastry thing, the fried rice noodles rolls and the garlic chives dumplings.
OH I’m hungry now…
Until next time…
Hi Howard-It was great meeting you too! I hope we didn’t talk about nail polish too much
I think lunch is always better with a bit of Nigella 
Hi lili-I wish my husband would try them but he steadfastly refuses. Interesting that you all love them but the partners don’t! It was lots of fun
Hi grace-They’re quite weird and wonderful aren’t they. As for me I loved the look of the watermelon but went for the custard and mango. Perhaps you are good at the art of restraint?
Hi chocolatesuze-It was great to see you again too and thanks for introducing us to the layer cake! Hehe maybe you could get him for your wedding, at least he could corral everyone if not photograph.
Hi Renee-It was a feast! I am the same, always too full by the time dessert rolls around. But I should take a rest like we did and soldier onto dessert
Hi belle-Thankyou!
I liked your paparazzi shots. Yes I hope Zumbo opens on Saturday, will see you there!
Hi Yasmin-That’s great to hear, the more food bloggers the merrier
Hi Teresa-Hopefully you can come along to the next one and help us eat our way through the menu
I saw you taking the photo of the carved wooden panel but didn’t realise it was because there were cute pint-sized diners behind it
All your photos turned out great. I think you were the most dedicated out of everyone at getting a shot of every dish. It paid off!
What a feast! And what great company to share it with, too. It sounds like a fabulous evening was had by all concerned!
Hi Helen-They looked rather cute, like on a grown up date. Although they were probably brother and sister I prefer to think it was a young Yum Cha date. Thanks, I think it’s a compulsion!
Hi Angela-It was indeed, I sometime forget why Yum Cha is so great in large groups. It was a great time
How wonderful! I don’t know which I’m more jealous of. Decent Yum Cha or a bloggers gathering! I’ve never had either! I couldn’t find any decent Yum Cha in Brisbane. I look at the pic of the chickens feet and I feel desperate to try one! Could you describe how they are prepared in this ‘Yum Cha’ intance? Seasoned? Battered?
How nice to get together with fellow foodies. That would be a dream for me. I’m always eating out with people who look at food as ‘fuel’ or who think I’m ‘whacky and way out’ when it comes to food. Wasabi to them is akin to eating raw snake guts or something. I need some exciting foodies in my real life! So many people I know don’t even like seafood. No fish at all, not even tinned tuna.. ((sigh)).
Hi Maria-This was my first bloggers meeting (but I’ve had a couple since this one). They’re lightly dusted with flour and deep fried, then coated in a black bean chili sauce. There are lots of little bones in them and the meat eases off the soft bones quickly. It’s not for everyone but I love them
Arrrgh the people that look on food as fuel! I don’t get that at all, there’s too much pleasure to be had from food. Wow, I wonder what they do eat if they don’t eat seafood, fish or tuna. I guess chicken, pork and beef (and I’m guessing not duck!
).
Hello i was wondering whether the staff spoke english and properly explained what were inside the dishes?
I would hate to accidently eat a pork dumpling mistaking it for prawn!
Hi Mimi-I think the women that push the trolleys don’t always have the best english. I think the best bet is to ask a manager what doesn’t have pork although I think a lot of Yum Cha dishes contain pork, even some vegetarian dumplings.
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[...] I’d like to offer my services. I offer no formal qualifications save that of having tried many Xiao Long Baos. My only assets are hunger and the insatiable craving to try these little morsels of [...]
[...] food, particularly the steamed dumplings, erred on the bland. If anything I prefer the Yum Cha at East Ocean or Sky Phoenix. What is interesting though is watching the trolley ladies after they finish. There [...]
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